Monday, February 1, 2016

The news

I was listening to NPR on my drive to work this morning, and heard a brief story about the guys "occupying" that bird sanctuary in Oregon. I haven't been following this story very closely (I've heard the stories and seen headlines but I haven't read very much about it). I do wonder why these people seem to have gotten a pass - this story has unfolded over such a long length of time, and the point of it all still seems murky to me.

Anyway, I'm not prepared or qualified to discuss this, at all, but at the end of the story, and I will admit that I may have stopped listening very closely by this point, a man spoke up out of my radio and into my delighted ears. I had to write it down (fine; I had to ask Siri to write it down, which she did, with more perfection than she displays when I ask her to send a text message). It made me giggle. The guy speaking sounded a tiny bit like Elmer Fudd, a detail I don't add to make fun, but only so you too, might hear what I heard. Here it is, for your enjoyment.

"If you stand up against the government, the government will squish you."

Words to live by, kids.

(I think the repetition of the words "the government" got my attention. And then, "squish." It's such a great word. Squish you like a bug, my friends. Like a bug.)